Chad Stahelski, the filmmaker behind all four John Wick movies, is set to turn the Black Samurai blaxploitation books by Marc Olden into a Netflix series. He’s joined by Raising Dion and Foundation writer Leigh Dana Jackson, who will be penning the scripts.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Stahelski will also produce along with Jason Spitz and Alex Young of 87Eleven Entertainment and John Schoenfelder and Russell Ackerman of Addictive Pictures.
We don’t have details on the plot of the series, but Olden’s eight Black Samurai books from the 1970s centered around a character named Robert Sand, an American soldier who is trained in Tokyo by Master Konuma, keeper of the ancient secrets of the samurai. Seven years later, terrorists attack the dojo and kill Konuma, leading Sand on a mission of vengeance. The later books have Sand taking down arms dealers, a gold-hungry corporate overlord, a pimp, a voodoo priest, and kidnappers who abduct the President’s daughter. There’s also a book focused on a solid-gold katana.
Stahelski is currently finishing up John Wick 4, which is set to premiere in theaters on March 24, 2023. Jackson also has some impressive credits—in addition to writing on Raising Dion and Apple TV+’s Foundation, he’s also co-writing the adaptation of Bitter Root, which has Black Panther director Ryan Coogler producing and Regina King directing.
No news yet on when Black Samurai will make its way onto Netflix.
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